Optical component for accurately locating the end face of an optical waveguide with respect to an optical device

ABSTRACT

A method and arrangement for the positioning and bonding of a solid body (2) in which one part of the solid body (2) together with the bonding agent (6) is to be attached to a further element (7) and bonded to a base (4) is to be capable of positioning the solid body (2), at the point attained after positioning, with both high precision and high long term stability. The solid body (2) is immersed in the bonding agent (6) and this bonding agent is in turn located in a groove of a further electrically conducting body (7). The further body (7) is heated by current flow to a temperature at which the solid body (2) is movable within the bonding agent. Upon attaining the desired positioning of the solid body (2), the bonding agent is allowed to cool through controlled reduction of the heating current until solidification occurs.

This application is a divisional of Ser. No. 126,067 filed on Nov. 27,1987, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,081 which patent was a divisional of Ser.No. 855,275 filed Apr. 24, 1986, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,796.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an arrangement wherein a plurality of bodymembers are positioned in precise relationship on a carrier body, and,more particularly, it relates to an arrangement wherein manipulatorsposition these bodies at elevated temperatures and in an inert gasenvironment.

The technical problem is one of positioning and bonding a solid body ina specific spatial relation to another object. It is often necessary toposition a solid body relative to another object with a high degree ofaccuracy and to attach it at the respective positioned location in amanner that will provide long term stability, upon achieving thisaccuracy.

A light beam wave-guide, for example a glass fibre or optical fibre, isto be affixed to a laser diode with a specified separation larger thanor equal to zero or to some predetermined value. Through the use ofproper optics a light beam wave-guide is to be attached to a laser diodewith a specified separation greater than zero, whereby the light emittedby the diode is, for example, to be efficiently coupled by means of theproper optics to the beam wave-guide. A tapered lens arranged at the endof the glass fibre may, for example, be employed as the suitable optics.

During the attachment of a light beam wave-guide to a laser diode with aspecified separation, especially during the application of a single modeoptical fibre as a beam wave-guide, particularly stringent requirementsare posed with regard to the positional accuracy and to the long termstability of this positional accuracy during operating and storageconditions. The positional accuracy of a single mode optical fibre mustthen have a long term stability with a maximum tolerance of within or+/-0.05 μm. This maximum tolerance must not be exceeded during operationand storage conditions over the range of -40° C. to +60° C.

With regard to the respective light beam wave-guides employed, eithersmaller or greater accuracies must be maintained for positioning andbonding the light beam wave-guide in front of the respective laserdiode.

In the case of multi-mode optical fibres, for example, in the case ofgraded index fibres with a cone diameter of 50 μm, a position and longterm location tolerance Δx, Δy on the order of ±1 μm must be maintained.In the application of a single mode optical fibre which may exhibit acore of 5 μm, for example, a position and long term location toleranceΔx, Δy on the order ±0.05 μm must be maintained.

With presently available mechanical and electro-mechanical adjustingdevices, for example, with a stepping motor, with a piezo-crystal etc.,the attainment of the previously mentioned adjustment accuracies forshort periods, and the retaining of this accuracy for seconds, and evenminutes, is relatively free of problems.

It is however impossible, with presently available procedures anddevices, to bond the beam wave-guides with the attained accuracy, whilemaintaining the respective location of the beam wave-guide, afterpositioning, in the long term.

Previously, a number of different light beam wave-guide bonding methodswere, or would be, applied in the construction of laser diode modules.In most of the laser modules on the market today, the laser diode isattached to its own mount assembly which is in turn attached through anintermediate fastening element to a light beam wave-guide bonding point.In this way the light beam wave-guide is either fastened in a capillarymade of metal-quartz or similar materials, or directly attached at thepoint of bonding. The attachment of the light beam wave-guide is thusaccomplished through the following different techniques or arrangements.

In one technique, the beam wave-guide is directly cemented to thepositioning point. In another technique, the beam wave-guide is cementedinto a capillary and the capillary is in turn cemented, soldered, weldedetc., at the positioning point. In a third technique, the beamwave-guide is metalized, then soldered into the capillary and thecapillary then soldered to the positioning point, etc.

All of these conventional bonding techniques for a light beam wave-guidehave to a greater or lesser extent disadvantages of various kinds, asfor example:

I) During cementing of the beam wave-guide to the positioning point, thebeam wave-guide must be held in position at the positioning point to anaccuracy of ±0.05 μm during hardening of the cement, which ispractically impossible in the present state of the art.

II) Too little is as yet known about the long term stability of thevarious cements.

III) During the soldering of the beam wave-guide at the bonding pointwith the assembly techniques employed until now for beam wave-guidemodule construction, a heat source is necessary for heating the solder,which to a large extent also heats the laser diode, so that operation ofthe laser diode during the positioning procedure is not possible in mostcases, whereby adjustment by coupling to light and optical observationduring photo-diode operation is impossible and accurate positioning ismade substantially more difficult.

IV) During welding or soldering of a beam wave guide mounted in acapillary, a considerably displacement of the beam wave-guide may occur,during the cooling process, especially in the case of welding, that issubstantially greater than ±0.05 μm.

V) In all of the light beam wave-guide techniques mentioned in theforegoing, the light beam wave-guide is attached to the mount assemblyon which the laser diode is mounted, through intermediate elements, suchas through various metals, various materials, screwed and/or solderedand/or cemented. The stability of the beam wave-guide is therebydirectly related to the mechanical and thermal behavior characteristicsof these intermediate elements, this means, that a displacement or athermal stress, which must of necessity arise, during temperaturecycling between +60° C. and -40° C. with many of the intermediateelements used in the present arrangements of the prior art, are directlycarried over into the light beam wave-guide laser coupling and make itpractically impossible to maintain long-term stability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a technique and anarrangement of the type previously referred to including a fabricatedcomponent in which a solid body may be positioned with high accuracy andbonded with good long-term stability at the desired location establishedduring positioning.

The invention broadly includes an attachment method and a positioningand attachment procedure for solid bodies, particularly for light beamwave-guides, e.g. for glass fibres, which overcome the disadvantages ofprior techniques and achieves substantial simplification overconventional techniques.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

Features of the invention and additional objects of the invention willbe more readily appreciated and better understood by reference to thefollowing detailed description which should be considered in conjunctionwith the drawing.

FIG. 1 is a cross section-view of an illustrative embodiment for acomponent.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the illustrative embodiment of FIG.1 along line A--B.

FIG. 3 demonstrates an arrangement and a device according to theinvention.

FIG. 4 depicts another illustrative embodiment in accordance with theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1 and 2 include an optical fibre attachment arrangement or mount4, 5, 6, 7 and the diode laser chip 1 on a common base 3. By thisarrangement the best possible attachment of the solid body 2 is obtainedwithout resorting to intermediate parts or components.

For bonding, the light beam wave-guide 2 is imbedded in solder 6, e.g.in SnPbAg or another solder composition with a specified separation fromthe laser diode 1. The solder 6, is itself enclosed in a further body 7,shown in FIG. 1 and 2 in the form of a V-grooved-chip, in order toachieve a best possible mechanical solder stability. The further body 7comprises semiconductor material, for example silicon The V-groove ofthe body member 7 may be etched and may be metalized. The solderedattachment to the base 3 which is common to the laser diode 1 and to thelight beam wave-guide 2 is achieved thereby through a low heatconducting fibre support base, solderable at its upper and lower sides.The base 4 may also be metalized with a layer 5 on its upper andcorresponding lower sides. With the combined beam wave-guide attachment4, 5, 6, 7 a positioning of the light beam wave-guide 2 is possibleduring laser operation at a laser temperature of 25° C.

Suitable materials having low heat conductivity that adapted for thispurpose include metalized glasses, metalized ceramics (Porcelain),metallized quartz and also metals such as stainless steel or othermetals. It is then possible, through the selection of suitable materialsand through suitable geometry of the base 4, to match the verticalthermal expansion (Δy) of the beam wave-guide support base 4 with thevertical thermal expansion of the laser diode base 3, in order to avoidbeam wave-guide positional shifts, due to differential thermalexpansion, in the range of 0.05 μm. Traverse positional changes (Δx) dueto thermal expansion, are fundamentally ruled out through the attachmentof the laser diode 1 and the beam wave-guide 2 to a common base.

FIG. 1 illustrates a lengthwise sectional view through a componentaccording to the invention along the axis of the beam wave-guide 2. Theaxis of the light beam wave-guide 2 is considered to be the z-axis. FIG.2 illustrates a cross sectional view taken approximately through themiddle (line A-B) of the light beam wave-guide attachment 4, 5, 6, 7 ofthe embodiment of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates the light beam wave-guide positioning and bondingprocedure. In principle the bonding, by soft soldering, of the lightbeam wave-guide with a specified spacing relative to the laser diode isdemonstrated as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and indeed in the region of thebeam wave-guide attachment 4, 5, 6, 7 through coating of the light beamwave-guide 2 in the x-direction and y-direction. The attachment of thelight beam wave-guide in the z-direction may be accomplished through acapillary on the housing of the laser diode module, not shown in theFigure, or on base 4 itself, when the light beam wave-guide 2 ismetallized in the area of the base 4.

Positioning of the beam wave-guide occurs in the fluidized molten solder6. The light beam wave-guide 2 is held in place upon cooling andsolidification of the solder 6, at the end of the positioning procedure.The height of the base 4 presents the only limitation on the positioningplay but this may be fixed in advance through correspondingly tightertolerances.

The upper body member 7 is employed as an attachment accessory, andsimultaneously as a heat source for melting the solder 6, used inbonding the beam wave-guide.

In this procedure it is not necessary to employ an external heat sourceto melt the solder i.e. a hot gas, an arc, a hot iron, etc., with whichthe laser diode is frequently heated as well. More often it is possiblewith this procedure to heat only that region of the light beamwave-guide 2, relative to the z-axis, in which the solder 6 is present.Thereby the power dissipation of the semiconductor 7 during current flowis used for heating (Schottky-Contact and bulk resistance), that is, thesemiconductor body 7 is clamped between two electrodes 11a and 11b of acurrent regulated power supply. These electrodes are constructed in theform of a clamp or tongs and fastened to an x, y, z manipulator. Athermal sensor 11c attached to the one leg of the "heating clamp" fortemperature control. This thermal sensor may be soldered, welded,cemented, etc. on.

The semiconductor body 7 may be a silicon chip or another type ofsemiconductor chip in this arrangement.

If a voltage is now applied to the clamp formed electrodes 11a, 11b, aheating current Ih will flow through the semiconductor body 7, after adefined breakdown voltage (Schottky-contact between the metal of theelectrodes 11a 11b and the semiconductor body 7) is reached, which willraise the temperature of the semiconductor body 7 to solderingtemperature. With the use of a silicon chip as the semiconductor body 7,the breakdown voltage is about 80 V and the heating current required toheat to soldering temperature is approximately 10 to 20 mA. It isimportant herewith, that the current required for heating is controlledthrough a current regulated voltage source. The desired temperature ofthe semiconductor body 7 can then be directly regulated and controlledwith the thermal sensor 11c.

The solder 6 necessary for the fastening or securing of the light beamwave-guide 2 can be applied through pre-tinning of the metallizedsemiconductor body 7 to the respective desired degree. The base 4 istherewith also pre-tinned on its upper surface with the same solder.

In order to immerse the beam wave-guide 2 into the positioning solder 6,the solder preform 6, on the semiconductor body 7, is melted with the"heating clamp" consisting essentially of the electrodes 11a, 11b, asdescribed above, and the semiconductor body 7, which is attached to the"heating clamps", is then lowered, while in the heated condition, withthe manipulator, to which the "heating clamp" is attached, over theoptical wave-guide fiber 2.

The melted solder 6 surrounded by the bare metallizing of the light beamwave-guide 2 envelops the beam wave-guide 2 and joins with the remainingsolder on the upper surface of the base 4, and with that around thelight beam wave-guide 2, in the region of the bonding point, so thatcomplete solder immersion of the beam wave-guide takes place. Meanwhileany oxidation of the solder can be prevented through the use of aprotective inert gas, and a uniform distribution of the solder achievedby movement of the semiconductor body 7 in the combined x and ydirections. It is then possible, while the solder is in the fluidcondition, to optimally align the semiconductor body 7 with theV-groove, in the x, y, z direction on the beam wave-guide 2 by means ofthe heating clamp manipulator, of which the electrodes 11a and 11b are apart and/or the semiconductor body 7 may by positioning of the lightbeam wave-guide 2 may, by means of an additional light beam wave-guidemanipulator 10, be re-positioned so that, for example, the most uniformand narrow gap between the light beam wave-guide 2, V-groove of thesemiconductor body 7 and the base 4 results, through which the long termstability may be favorably affected.

Upon achievement of the desired position of the light beam wave-guide 2the positioning solder 6 is allowed to cool down and solidify through acontinuous controlled reduction of the heating current, and the lightbeam wave-guide 2 is bonded at the positioned location. The soldermelting and positioning process can thereafter be repeated at will.

Upon proper beam wave-guide bonding the heating clamp is opened withoutloading of the semiconductor body 7 and the light beam wave-guidecomponent parts 4, 5, 6, 7 thus separated from the heating clampmanipulator. The same applies to the additional light beam wave-guidemanipulator 10.

When UV-curable and/or that heat curable adhesives or cements areemployed instead of solder, the semiconductor body 7, with the V-groovemay be substituted for measuring the cement quantity; for the absolutequantity, and the uniform distribution of the bonding agent 6, that issymmetrical about a plane which is normal to the base of the light beamwave-guide 2 and which contains the axis of the light beam wave-guide 2,around the light beam waVe-guide 2, is of great importance.

In general the described procedure can also be applied to other similarcomponents. For example, an infrared-emitting diode (IRED) can be usedas element 1. The procedure described can also be employed in otherdevices for positioning and bonding such as for the positioning andbonding of wires or other objects that must be positioned relative toanother object with high accuracy and have great long-term stability.

An important feature of the invention, is the use of another body 7, asan aid for positioning and bonding the solid body 2, and whichsimultaneously serves as a heat source for the melting of the attachingsolder 6. When, therefore, the other element 7, provides these functionswithout itself adhering to the bonding agent 6, that has solidified atthe end of the procedure, the other body 7, together with the heatingclamp, can be removed again upon the solidification of the bonding agent6. Therefore, the further element may in fact be a part of the heatingclamp. The further body 7 need not necessarily be a semiconductorelement in order to have these characteristics. For example, a carbonglass, already known from its use in hot cathode devices may be employedwhich, because of the spatial anisotrophy of its electronic transportcharacteristics, can provide a high heating capacity along withadditional favorable mechanical and physical properties. With suitabletreatment of the surface of the groove of such a further body 7, andwith an additional surface coating is required, which makes theseparation of the body 7 possible, after the solidification of thebonding agent, the further body 7 may again be separated from thesolidified bonding agent. The nature of such coatings, for example ahard, smooth thin layer which may be evaporated, sputtered or otherwiseapplied is well known to those skilled in the art.

Another important feature of the invention is, that in the applicationof a low thermally conducting base 4, only region directly adjacent tothe solid body 2, together with the bonding agent 6, need be brought toa higher temperature. If the base 4 is itself a part of the base 3, thisadvantage can also be achieved by making the entire base 3 of a lowthermal conductivity material.

The base 4 and the laser diode 1 may also be arranged on varioussubstrates. In each case the bonding agent employed may be either solderor a cement.

The heating of the bonding agent 6 need not necessarily result fromcurrent flow through the further body 7. The heating of the further body7 can also be brought about through induction, with the aid ofalternating electric field, aimed at said radiating in the direction ofthe further body 7. Therewith the requisite heating of the bonding agent6 is generated in the interior of the further body 7. The heating of thebonding agent may also be brought about through heat radiation which isabsorbed by the further body 7. A heat absorbing upper surface of theother body 7 is advantageous for this purpose. The heat radiation may beproduced by a platinum heating resistance, and may additionally bereflected with suitable optics and aimed at the further body 7. Theheating of the bonding agent 6 may also be produced through a heatingdevice which is in direct thermal contact with the further body 7 andheats this further body 7 exclusively. For example, a device similar tothe tip of a soldering iron may be applied to the further body 7. Ineach of these cases the further body 7 functions as a heating die thatis not heated through the passage of current.

FIG. 4 illustrates a longitudinal sectional view through an additionalembodiment of the invention similar to the lengthwise section of FIG. 1.A further body 7 provided with a depression (cavity, groove) may also beemployed as the further body, whereby this depression serves as a meansof positioning and bonding of the solid element 2 and/or the solidelement 12. FIG. 4 shows the depression of the further body 7 at the topand, as an example, is provided with a lens, in the case of FIG. 4, aspherical lens 12. Here the lens 12 may be firmly attached to thefurther body 7. The solid body 12 may, in this way, be indirectly bondedand positioned through the bonding and positioning of the further body 7in FIG. 4.

As an example, the solid element 12 in the depression of the furtherbody 7 may be bonded with a type of bonding agent 6 having a highermelting point than the layer of bonding agent 6 between the base 4 andthe further body 7 in FIG. 4. An arrangement is thus provided to allowthe layer of bonding agent 6 between the base 4 and the further body 7to melt and flow, upon the heating of the further body 7, without,however, the bonding agent 6, between the solid element 12 and thesupplemental element 7, having melted and flowed at this temperature.

The further body 7 of FIG. 4 may be heated in exactly the same way asdescribed in FIGS. 1 through 3 above. The further body 7 may bepositioned in both the directions x and z in space, shown in FIG. 4,which together define the mounting surface of the base 4. Thepositioning in the different directions in space may be accomplishedwith the aid of a manipulator. Positioning in the y direction, that ispositioning parallel to the normal of the mounting surface of the base4, can in practice follow, without the need for additional bonding agent6, In that, upon lowering of the solid body 12, a part of the bondingagent 6, is forced out of the intermediate space between the base 4 andthe further body 7 and that, in the opposite case, upon lifting of thesolid body 12, the bonding agent 6 will be pulled back into theintermediate space between the base 4 and the further body 7.

The further body 7 serves as an assisting body for transferring thethermal energy to the bonding agent 6 in order to cause this to melt andflow.

The bonding agent 6 in the intermediate space between the base 4 and thesupplemental element 7 may have a thickness in the order of 0.1 to 0.2mm. In the application of the spherical lens 12 as solid body, thediameter of this solid body may be 500 μm. If the solid body 12 is aspherical lens and if the center of the spherical lens lies on theoptical axis of the emitted light bundle of the object 1, the divergentlight bundle emitted can be formed into a parallel ray bundle by meansof the spherical lens.

There has thus been shown and described a novel mounting arrangement foran optical fibre coupled to a laser diode which fulfills all the objectsand advantages sought therefor. Many changes, modifications, variationsand other uses and applications of the subject invention will, however,become apparent to those skilled in the art after considering thisspecification which disclose preferred embodiments thereof. All suchchanges, modifications, variations and other uses and applications whichdo not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention are deemed tobe covered by the invention which is limited only by the claims whichfollow.

We claim:
 1. An optical component for positioning and boding an opticalwaveguide in alignment with an object, comprising a support base and acommon base on which said support base and said object are located; abonding material attached to said support base for receiving a portionof said optical waveguide such that said optical waveguide is embeddedin said bonding material parallel to said portion of the longitudinalaxis of said optical waveguide; and an upper body member distinct fromsaid support base for providing a source of heat to said bondingmaterial and having a hollowed-out portion for receiving said bondingmaterial and said optical waveguide embedded therein such that saidoptical waveguide is attached to said support base together with saidbonding material and said upper body member.
 2. An optical componentaccording to claim 1, wherein said support base is a portion of saidcommon base.
 3. An optical component according to claim 1, wherein saidsupport base has a low thermal conductivity.
 4. An optical componentaccording to claim 1, wherein through the selection of materials andgeometry said support base has a vertical thermal expansion matched tothe thermal expansion of said common base.
 5. An optical componentaccording to claim 1, wherein a laser diode serves as said object.
 6. Anoptical component according to claim 1, wherein an IR diode serves assaid object.
 7. An optical component according to claim 1, wherein aphotodiode serves as said object.
 8. An optical component according toclaim 1, wherein said upper body member is a semiconductor.
 9. Anoptical component according to claim 1, wherein said upper body memberis a carbon body.
 10. An optical component according to claim 1, whereinsaid bonding material is solder.
 11. An optical component forpositioning an end face of an optical waveguide at a predeterminedlocation with respect to an optical device to enable said device tooptically interface with said end face of said optical waveguide,comprising:a common base having a given region for rigidly supportingsaid optical device; an attachment base mounted on said common base atone surface and having a second surface for supporting said waveguide; abonding material securing said waveguide to said second surface of saidattachment base and completely surrounding a linear portion of saidwaveguide remote from said end face to firmly support and surround saidwaveguide along a portion of its length and relatively parallel to thelongitudinal axis of said waveguide such that said end face opticallyinterfaces with said device; and an upper body member positioned abovesaid optical waveguide and said second surface and having a positioninggroove extending over at least a portion of said waveguide and bonded insaid position by said bonding material whereby said upper body member,said waveguide and said second surface are separated one from the otherby said bonding material.
 12. An optical component according to claim11, wherein said supper body member is a semiconductor.
 13. An opticalcomponent according to claim 11, wherein said upper body member is acarbon body.
 14. An optical component according to claim 11, whereinsaid bonding material is solder.